Are townhomes generally quieter than condos?

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S1d_IHB

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I live in a condo complex and I am miserable. I live on the first floor and I can hear my upstairs neighbor's television every night. I've basically resorted to wearing earplugs at night but that just upsets me that I have to resort to that. I've stopped their place to ask them in person to turn it down at night, they cooled off for awhile but now it's loud again. Basically it's probably not loud enough to hear outside for the police to be called, but it's loud enough to keep me up.



I'd like to move out and am wondering if townhomes, since they generally are just attached side to side instead of at all sides like a condo, are generally quieter than condos?
 
No. We live in an older 1976 built townhome attached only on one side and our neighbor's TV is on the other side of the wall that our bed is next to. Every night until 2AM we would have to listen to their TV while we try to sleep. I asked them to turn it down, but they are old with poor hearing so they still watch it loud.





One Sunday night at 1AM it sounded like she was watching Ben Hur at full volume. I got so fed up that I hooked up my 150 pound, 450Watt bass guitar stage rig right next to their wall. I proceeded to Jam for a few minutes at full volume - this thing was loud enough to rattle their dentures off (and the entire blocks). They turned off the TV.





So no, townhomes aren't quieter than condos. I wish we could move into a detached, but they start in the $750,000 and up range.
 
It depends on the construction. The one we live in is really quiet. The people next to us had a baby and we didn't know for weeks. We only found out when we saw them putting her in her car seat one morning. Our walls are not "common" in the technical sense - one side of our wall connects to us, and then there is a gap, followed by insulation. Our neighbor has a separate wall that does not connect to our unit. If they are drilling a hole in a wall to hang pictures or something, I can hear it, but the normal day to day stuff, I can't. If it helps, our place was built in 2002.





IR, you may wish to "invest" in a holiday gift for your neighbors. Because my Dad has a hearing problem and has to turn the TV up, my brother got him a wireless headset that plugs into the TV. Dad gets to hear the TV and Mom keeps her sanity. Win, win all around.
 
The newer condo construction are triple walled and fairly sound-proof. However, they're not perfect either.





My buddy lives in Downtown Fullerton and they had a neighbor who likes to use a massage machine in the middle of the night. The vibration does get loud.





When I was in Placentia, I had my TV on at 1am with normal volume and my neighbor never complained about it, said she didn't really hear anything. But if I was playing video games on my computer with the subwoofer up against the wall, she'd complain because she can hear it at 1am. It took me a while but I figured out which weapons in Unreal Tournament made the offending noise and avoided using them, before switching to headphones (ugh).
 
<p><em>" they had a neighbor who likes to use a massage machine in the middle of the night</em> "</p>

<p>ok, am I the only one who wants to make a snide remark about this ? ;)</p>

<p> </p>
 
<p>In order for condo and townhome builders to overcome the issue of noise and privacy. Many builders use a double stud wall system with a 2" air gap between them. The full thickness of the combined wall is about 10" including the drywalls. Both walls have insulation for sound attenuation purposes. This practice is quite common for the last 15 years. If the structure was built prior to 1990's then the noise transmission issue probably is common.</p>

<p>Townhouse is better than condo. Condo has both vertical and horizontal noise transmission. The bigger risk is the water damage from the floor above.</p>

<p>Townhome often has a dedicated rear or front yard or both while most non ground floor condos have just a balcony. If one likes to garden townhome is a better choice.</p>

<p>Townhome actually cost less to build compared to condo. However it cost more to purchase a townhome than a condo. The reason is the landcost. Builders get more condo units on to a parcel of land than townhomes.</p>

<p>Carriage unit is a flat unit situated across the top of several units or several garages. One good example is Treo by Brookfield Homes in Woodbury. Many builders use very slow and quiet garage openers so the mechanical vibration would not disturb the occupant who lives above. This solution is only been recent so beware of the older structures out there. </p>

<p>Detached condo is still the best choice for privacy issues. No vibration, TV noise and water leak. However, due to more land are dedicated for sideyards the house area isnot as big as a townhome. </p>

<p>Most townhomes have inefficient floorplans due to poor window positioning. The result is a very long bowling alley like hallway that connects the bedrooms at each end. The units are generally narrow and long and the units are usually stacked over its 20' wide garage. The 2 secondary bedrooms of a 3 bedroom unit always suffer with tight dimensions. Many of these bedrooms are less than 10'</p>

<p>When one buys a big townhome or condos he is buying a house with excessive hallways with compromised smaller rooms while a detached condo is limited in footage with bigger rooms. Because of windows on all four side the long hall is eliminated. IMO the detached condo is a much better buy due to a much better efficient floorplan. I think there is a 8%- 10% premium for pricing a detached condo.</p>
 
We live in Cortile which is a "detached condo" in Woodbury. While we do not share any walls with the neighbors, we still hear them during the summer months through open window. Cortile has very nice design where no windows of neighboring unit will face each other. But sound does find its way over.





The construction matters, but I think distance between the units are more important.
 
<p>I know we are talking about condos and townhomes but I would like to share my experience of living in an apartment. Until recently, my wife and I lived in an Archstone apt. complex in MV. It has to be one of the best built communities as we couldn't hear a single neighbor ever. We frequently had guests over and would socialize well past midnight with no complaints from anyone (we weren't being quiet at all). Now we moved to an IAC community and though it is a newer complex built to "condo code", we still hear noise. We hear things that we never heard before like neighbors opening and closing their door, people walking on staircase, etc.</p>

<p>I really believe it depends on the builder and materials they choose. You can't simply say that townhomes or condos are better for noise.</p>
 
<p>Agree with noshellsnail,</p>

<p>We live in Mericort, same builder, same court yard design, different floor plan. We can hear the neighboring with windows open. But then again, even with detached SFRs, you can still hear with windows open right? Unless you have a big lot.</p>
 
Both Cortile and Mericourt are detached condos. I lived in a single family detached house and I could hear my neighbors when both of our windows were opened. I envy you guys your windows faces your neighbors blank wall. Many of my windows along the sideyards aligned with my neighbors' windows I see into their homes and even the soaking tub. When architects design single family home the relationship along the sideyards are never carefully studied. I doubt architects would spend the extra effort time and money to modify the floor plan because the windows lined up. In the detached condos everything is so tight and efficient it is extremely prudent to have that level of visual privacy. I had neither in my regular detached home. Hope you both enjoyed your home. With the amount of traffic in Irvine I bet living in Mericourt saved you tons of times by living close to the fwy. and the post office.
 
<p>bkshopr,</p>

<p>You are absolutely right. Getting to and from the freeway is quick. It's just we have to deal with the traffic noise being so close. </p>
 
I live in Savannah in Villages of Columbus and am surprisingly disappointed at how much I can hear of what my upstairs neighbors are doing. It feels like apartment living.
 
It is not the architects, it is the developers...wait, it is actually the people.


If people are still buying, why bother spending the extra money on research or modification?
 
noshellsnail, vtech22a and everybody else living in the Cal Pacific detached condos;





We're very interested in purchasing a detached condo one day and I was wondering if one of you guys (or all) can describe your experience with living in them?





Some thoughts would be regarding parking situation, alley congestion, neighboring noises, maintenance, parking for a 3rd or 4th car...ect.
 
<p>raymond,</p>

<p>While admitedly I'm still an apartment dweller, my observation of parking and congestion in neighborhoods with those types of properties is that the main deciding factor is whether the detached condos are the high-end properties of the neighborhood or the lower end properties in the neighborhood. If they are the nominal or higher, there's a good chance things will be quite congested.</p>

<p>If you are surrounded by or adjacent to SFRs, it tends to relieve that pressure and parking doesn't reach critical mass and bog down. If you have brownstones or similar product nearby, look out. In my opinion, it has less to do with what residence you are in than those of the neighborhood.</p>

<p>SCHB</p>
 
raymond... i currently live in a cal pac detached home and the noises really depend on your location. some houses are really clustered together, the all the front doors and windows face each other, and you can hear everything. if you choose a house that has nobody behind you and only houses to your left and riight, then that's a prime spot. parking situation is pretty good... it's obvious who is having a party because all the curbs are filled with cars... if you want to park more than 2 cars, then you have to let the security/association know that you intend to park 2 cars in the garage so you can get a permit for your other cars. hope that helps.
 
<p>I live at Garland Park and the noise level is rare. When we first moved in, the neighbor's kid was running next door and you can hear his foot steps. I think he's alittle older now and we hardly hear a peep. </p>

<p>I must add this. I have a tandem garage and once my car battery went out. I had to connect 2 jump cables to reach my car battery to my wife's battery =). I would rev my engine for over 40 minutes. Not realizing that my neighbor's living room shared the same wall as my tandem garage. So I am sure he heard my loud engine. Hahahaha.... U know how I know he was hearing my car engine?...cause that week, when I was in my garage. The neighbor politely let me know by blasting his TV. I went up to my wife and said, "Oh <a href="mailto:cr@p">cr@p</a>!! All that time I was revving the engine. The neighbor must have heard it all.".....we both laughed. Needless to say, like good neighbors we stop doing that....hahaha.</p>

<p>Other than that, I think my unit is built pretty clever. Although, we share 2 walls. One wall is mainly the bathrooms and washer/dryer room. Which mean we hardly hear anything from the neighbors.</p>
 
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